


End's Call

by OhMyBlosh



Category: End's Call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 17:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8336380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhMyBlosh/pseuds/OhMyBlosh
Summary: Read it you little cheater you!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [My Amazing Friends](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=My+Amazing+Friends).



Blood dripped from her face. How? How could she have been defeated so easily? Guess it didn’t matter now. It was all over. The world was falling apart all around her and there was nothing she could do about it. Everyone was depending on her, their last line of defense and she had failed them. So many lives forfeit just because she was not strong enough. Pathetic, isn’t it? No… Libby could not just let herself succumb to death just because she doubted her abilities. Libby got up and grabbed her broken broadsword. This battle wasn’t over until she won.

2 months earlier

“Hah, sparring with you is a piece of cake!” A fifteen year old taunted his close friend as they stepped onto a floating platform. There was nothing else around the ring, that’s what Lib loved about it. Just a quiet place where she could just be with her thoughts. She unsheathed her broadsword and readied herself. Both teens stood still glaring at each other. A breeze swept across the platform as the fighters simultaneously charged at each other. The clashing of their swords could have been heard from miles away. Libby parried and when she could, went on the offense, but her friend’s style was unbeatable. There was no way she could beat him.

“Getting tired yet?” His irritating taunting continued as they fought. Then it came to Libby. 

“C’mon Hakuro,” she snapped, “I thought you were gonna try?” She could see that she had pissed him off enough. She began to back up in defense as he charged at her with all his might. Right before Hakuro could deliver a heavy blow, Libby sliced his foot and then his leg, sending him stumbling to the ground.

“Cheater…” he mumbled as he evaluated his wounds. Libby chuckled at him.

“You’re the one with a hot head, genious. Maybe next time you should leave that at home” They both shared a laugh and Libby helped him up. 

✺ ✺ ✺

Libby sat alone in her room alone. The sky was magnificent that night. So many stars and planets and other wondrous things found out there. When she was little, Libby wanted to become a space explorer. She wanted it more than anything in the world. Her hero, Dixon Kamashi, was a space explorer known for his expedition around the galaxy. He had charted so many uncharted places it took an entire for scientist to record all of it. Libby’s dreams were crushed when Dixon died though. She had bought another copy of the Space Now magazine to find out that her hero had been assumed dead after other explorers found pieces of his ship drifting through space. What happened to the ship and what happened to Dixon is still unknown to this day.

 

Midnight struck, and Libby still found herself pondering the unknown wonders by her window. She really had to pull herself to bed. If she didn’t get any sleep, she would be exhausted at school the next day. Libby threw herself onto her bed and pulled up a cover. Another fantastic day here in Oshima.

✺ ✺ ✺

When Libby got to school, she found Amanda waiting for her outside the door. It was nice to have a friend like Amanda. One that always looked out for and cared for their friends. She was really one of a kind.

“Hi Libby!” Amanda squealed as Libby got the door. “You will not believe what Josh and Caleb are up to in the Maintenance room!” This didn’t sound good. Last time she heard Amanda say something like this, those two idiots blew up the school kitchen.

“What are they doing this time?” Libby asked in a tired voice. She really didn’t want to deal with this right now but duty calls she guessed.

“Josh convinced Caleb to help hi---” before Amanda could finish, a loud explosion could be heard and water started filling the hallways.

“Did they flood the school?!” Libby screamed as the water rose to her knees. This was unbelievable. Of all the dumb things they have done, this was one of the worst. After wading through a football field of water, Libby finally found the two boys.

“What are you two clods doing?!” Both were alarmed to find her standing outside the door of the water maintenance room. Both were speechless. When Libby examined the damage, she saw that they had busted one of the pipes. There was no way she was fixing their mess again. No way. She would rather die than clean up another one of these disasters.

When she finally fixed the pipes, the school was completely soaked. The water had gotten into the classrooms and it even got to the main office. Once the water had cleared up, the principal announced that school was in no shape or form functional and that school would be closed for the next week or two.

Josh had invited everyone to his house as they walked home, but Libby wanted to change before she went anywhere. Everyone else agreed with her. Libby totally loved walking around in soaking wet clothes that made the air like twenty degrees colder. Just fantastic. When Libby got home, she found a note. The note read, 

To Libby, 

I’m sorry you have to learn this way, but I’ve been caught in a bit of a situation. I’ve been compromised and you and your friends are the hope now. Good Luck 

From, Max Zylius

What the heck was Max talking about? Compromised? When she entered her house, it was no better. When she got in, her apartment was torn apart inch by inch. Everything was destroyed. As she examined the place, she accidently stepped on a broken family portrait. She picked it up and looked at it. This was their only portrait since Libby and her brother’s parents were always away. Sometimes she wondered if one day they decided to never come back. To leave them all alone.Libby snapped herself out of her memories. She had to stay focused. 

Aside from the bit of blood splattered on the living room wall, there was nothing that the vandals had left behind. Who had done this? Why? She was just a normal girl. She had no enemies, not that she knew of anyway. Nothing made any sense. Libby called Caleb and explained to him what happened. After she did, she asked if she could stay until her home was fixed up. He said yes of course. How wouldn’t he just turn down a friend in need. Libby thanked him and then told her brother the lowdown. 

Moving in was a bit of an awkward process, seeing that Caleb and Libby’s relationship was interesting. It’s not like she could stay with Amanda or Josh though. She knew those two were doing whatever those two did when they were alone. Libby dragged her stuff upstairs and threw her things onto her bed. She needed a break from the mess that was her life. There was only one thing that could take her mind off of all this.

Libby stood alone on the sparring platform. The darkness of the night was eerie and gave her goosebumps. Something felt different about this place now. A lingering feeling of fear that creeped down Libby’s spine like a spider. She unsheathed her broadsword and readied herself to fight. Her eye’s were zeroed in on her opponent. She moved swiftly and struck first. The other fighter was well versed in swordsmanship though. They were able to parry Libby’s strike and go on the offensive. Libby was overwhelmed. This… thing… there was no way she could defeat it. Each swing of it’s sword pushed back even further. It didn’t even seem to be getting tired. It’s attack speed and strength didn’t vary whatsoever. Libby could feel herself getting closer to the edge of the platform. If she wasn’t careful….

There was no where left to go. Libby found herself pinned against the ledge of the arena with the beast she was fighting staring her straight in the eyes. She didn’t know what to do. Just before the other fighter could slash Libby to pieces, she jumped off the arena. An act out of pure panic had just bought her an extra few seconds of life before she died. Great. As she fell, she heard a slight shrieking sound. She turned around saw the phantom fighter was right behind her, sword ready. What in seven hells was it doing?! This creature was either completely insane or had some kind of hatred toward her. It got closer and closer. Even jumping to her death couldn’t save her from this freak.  
Libby braced for either getting stabbed or hitting the ground. Either way, it was not a good look for her. Just then, Libby witnessed an arrow of pure light rip through the abnormality and disintegrate it. Caleb! She had never been so happy to see Caleb in her life before. Then Libby realized she was still falling. She screamed out to Caleb, but he didn’t seem very worried. Wasn’t he gonna help her?! Mid-thought, Libby stopped falling. She floated completely still 5 yards over the ground.

“Cutting it close eh?” Josh spoke up from an entrance to the arena. Caleb must have called him here for help. Josh slowly lowered her to the ground. What a relief. 

“Josh, could you please not BARELY make it next time?” Caleb complained to Josh as he and Amanda approached them. Caleb and Josh kept bickering at each other as Amanda check Libby over for injuries. She had a few cuts and scratches, but overall she seemed to be fine. The boys were still bickering, but over who knows what now. Libby heard something about Harambe, then something about triggered. She never understood those two.

“Sorry I’m late! Is everyone ok?” A voice yelled from across the arena. It was Hakuro. He was fashionably late usual. Then, all of a sudden, he just flopped onto the ground. Libby was too shocked to move. 

“Hakuro!” Every exclaimed simultaneously. Josh and Caleb bursted over to him and helped him. Libby and Amanda hurried over to them as quickly as they could.

“What happened?” Josh asked. Libby could tell something was wrong. The look in Josh’s eyes scared her half to death. 

“I-I’m fine,” He said in a shaky voice,”I justs need some rest.” Hakuro didn’t look well. Out of nowhere, Amanda let out a short shriek, which made Libby jump out of her socks.

“Could you be any louder? I don’t think the world quite heard you.” Libby complained.

“Sorry,” Amanda started,”I just noticed…” She pointed at the veins in Haruko's arm. They were black. Amanda took out her blade and slightly cut his arm. He jerked back in reaction, but sure enough his blood was black. When she touched it, it was gooey and sticky. What was this? The goo started to spread up Libby’s forearm.

“Uhh guys…” She started but everyone else had already noticed. It was making it’s way around Haruka's hand. Fantastic. What a perfect she was having. Just wonderful. 

“I can fix this,” Josh chimed in, “I just need sometime to prepare myself”

“Just hurry up!” Both Hakuro and Libby exclaimed. She could feel the goo slithering up her arm like a snake going in for a kill. Both of them shared a look of worry with each other. The goo was almost all the way up her arm, and Josh still wasn’t done.

“Hariva Simpli!” Josh waved his hand forward and a wave of light flew through her. The goo evaporated with the light, leaving her hand free from its grasp. What a weird day.

✺ ✺ ✺

 

Libby’s alarmed blared loudly into her ears. She tried to hit the snooze button, but she couldn’t seem to find it. So, instead she just threw it across her room. Hakuro was expecting her at the arena soon, so she better start getting ready. As she got up, she felt the arm that the goo was on. It was still really fleshy. Guess she still had some recovering to do. 

The train she took was unusually empty today. Libby wondered what was with all these weird occurrences. Well at least she didn’t have to deal with any trains creeps. Libby sat in silence as the train sped into a tunnel at the speed of light. The lights on the car starting flickering, which was normal seeing that the trains in Oshima were never fixed up.

When she got to her stop, there was no one boarding the train. Where was everyone? What was going on? Maybe she should call up Josh. He is all magical and stuff. He would know what this would be about. She dialed his number and he picked up almost immediately.

“Hey what's up?” Josh asked in a casual voice. How could be so casual at a time like this?!

“Hey uhh… It's Libby. Have you noticed anything weird around here lately. Like possibly… everyone in the city disappearing?” She started to get more panicked. Why was this all happening to her?  
“Well yeah didn't you get the memo?”

“What memo?”

A dark, demonic voice replaced the one of Josh. “I killed everyone,” it said, “and you’re next.” Suddenly the black phantom once again appeared in front of her. This time instead of a sword, the phantom held a golden spear. Libby was in full on panic mode now. In an attempt to distract it, she threw her broadsword at it. The phantom seemed amused by this desperate act. The monster caught it in its hand, and when he squeezed it, it melted away.

She was defenseless. Libby was back into the wall. She wanted to run, but her eyes couldn't leave those of the phantoms. Why couldn’t she look away. The phantom slowly moved its hand onto Libby’s. It’s grip was ice cold. It sent a chill down her spine. The she felt a similar feeling on her arm. The dark goo from last night was dripping off the phantom’s arm and oozing onto hers. This time, the goo was faster. It crawled up her arm, and then started started spread across her entire body. The phantom’s grip was tighter now, and he had grabbed her other arm. The icy sensation burned. It felt like she had been thrown into a ten foot deep ice bath. The goo had spread entirely across her body, and Libby felt like she was frozen stiff. When the goo reached her neck, everything went black.  
Libby woke up in shock in Caleb’s guest bedroom. Sweat trickled down the side of her face. It was all just a dream… of course. It felt so real though. The chill of the phantom’s hands still lingered on her arms. When she tried to get up from bed, her arms felt like jelly. How was she suppose to go to school like this? Libby knew if she told her parents about this mess they wouldn’t believe her, so she faked sick. After her parent’s left, she called up Caleb and asked him if he could help her. He said he would be over as soon as he could.

When he got there, Libby still wasn’t able to get up. Caleb helped her up and got her fed. She felt so helpless, and it didn’t help that Caleb teased her by saying, “Here comes the airplane!” with a smirk on his face. Even though it had been a while, Libby still felt the awkwardness between her and Caleb. It couldn’t be helped. Libby wished she could go back and change what had happened. She hated being so distant from him. If only…

“Are you alright?” Caleb asked, while cleaning up the mess that he made while feeding her.

“Yeah… just had a weird dream last night.” She responded in hesitation. Libby still had a hard time believing that it was just a dream. It felt too real. But what else could it have been?

“You want to tell me about it?” Caleb continues as he wiped the floor.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt…” Libby says. She then continues to tell Caleb about the monstrosity that happened to be her dream. She held no detail back. From the alarm waking her up, to when she was almost completely covered in goo. Caleb’s expression never changed though, as if he expected all of it to happen.

“Sounds pretty messed up.” He said in a casual voice. How could he be so calm after hearing this dream?!

“Yeah… it was”

 

✺ ✺ ✺

 

Josh and Amanda came to her house as soon as they got out as school. The both of them asked how she was doing and if she was ok. Even though it was all the normal stuff people say to a sick person, she still appreciated them caring. Caleb explained to them the nightmare she had. Both looked horrified after hearing it. Just as josh began to say something in reaction to the dream, Hakuro busted through the door.

“Hey everyone, sorry I’m late!” It’s not like anyone was surprised at this point. Caleb filled him on what was going on.

“I had that dream too….” He said. He didn’t seem as energetic now. How could he have the exact dream? I mean it was such an odd nightmare. There was no way. Libby glanced over at Josh, seeing that he had a suspicious look on his face. Did he know what was going on?

“I’ll be right back.” and with that he left the room and went into the kitchen. Now Libby knew Josh knew something. When he returned, he came back with a knife. Everyone stood silent as he walked over to Libby and slit her hand.

“Agh! What the hell Josh?!” She exclaimed. What happened then left everyone motionless. Josh raised his hand, and the black goo rose from the cut in her hand into the air. Then, he walked over to Hakuro. 

“Hey, what are yo----” before he could finish, Josh cut his hand and found more of the goo.

“Just what I thought.” Josh said, “The goo that had gotten onto their arms yesterday hasn’t completely gone away. It made its way inside them.”

“You can use your magic to get rid of it though right?” Ask amanda in a worried voice.

“Unfortunately no. When it is inside them, I have no way of getting to it. And since the goo feeds on human blood, extracting it would mean both Libby and Hakuro would die of blood deficiency.” 

“Well then how do we do it then?” Libby demanded. 

“Honestly, I don’t know how,” Josh confessed, “but there is a place that could tell us.”  
✺ ✺ ✺

“The Library…. You took us to the Library?!” Hakuro yelled?

“Yes, but trust me I know what I’m doing.” He led them in and took them into a section of the library no one ever went to. There he walked up to a bookshelf and whispered, “Alifre Diri.” When he said this, the bookshelf disappeared, and in it’s place was a dark room with cobwebs abound. 

“This is the place.” Josh said casually. Everyone one just followed him when he went in. 

“How come we’ve never seen this place?” Amanda asked

“Cause only Sorcerers can enter this part of the library.” Josh explained. “Aha here we go! I found the book we are looking for. I guess I’ll just read out loud.” Josh cleared his throat and began.

“Thousands of years ago, the universe was ruled by the darkness. It was a cruel time where death and pain were known to all. This time period is known as the Dark Age. Beings called ‘Daemons’ slaughtered all who dared oppose their leader, the one who created this darkness, Arak Phan. A dark Gici that unlocked the secret to immortality. One day, a large force of warriors banded together to drive off the darkness. Arak threw all his forces at them, but somehow they were able to repel them. Hastily, the band of fighters rushed directly to the dark Gici, but what they didn’t know was that the daemons they slayed were not entirely dead. They were just cut down into a goo form. From their goo form, they could infect a person’s body and feast on it to regain its former demonic body.”

“So, when the warriors of light stormed the castle of Arak, the dark goo of fallen Daemon’s await them. They dropped down from the walls and fell onto the enemy soldiers, infecting them all at once. The screams of the fighters could be heard as the non-infected ones fled. Arak had once again won. After that, the rebellion against the darkness had been put to a halt. This halt did not last for long though. A few years after the rebellion struck, a new Gici was born. A Gici of light. After 14 years of being hidden and training secret, the rebels struck again, this time with the Gici. Using magic, the gici was able to destroy the daemons entirely and eradicate the darkness. When the fighters of the light\ stormed the castle the second time, Arak Phan was nowhere in sight. They had won.” Josh ended

“Great history lesson,” Hakuro started,” but we are still NOWHERE closer to finding out how to get rid of the goo!” He complained. He was right. They needed to find this out or else the both of them are in big trouble.

“Yeah yeah I’m getting to that.” Josh reassured. Once again he cleared his throat and read aloud, “If you are infected by a daemon, there are only two ways to get rid of it. The first way is to find a Gici and have them extract it for you. The only other way is to amputate the body part it infect. However if you do not amputate the limb quick enough, it won't matter.” This was followed with a long moment of silence. Amputate her arm? Did she really have to go to such lengths?

“But don’t worry,” Josh continued in a chirper voice, “I know where we can find a Gici!” 

“And where would that be?” Hakuro questioned in a skeptic voice. Just then the entrance to the dark room opened and someone entered. When the stranger looked up, they noticed the group immediately.

“Who are you?! You can’t be in here!” The stranger demanded. 

“Wait… Rose… is that you?” Did Josh know this girl?

“Josh? Oh my god it’s been too long!” She said and hugged him. Everyone felt awkward since none of them know her.

“Yeah I know! Oh these are my friends. I have to take them to the Gici.” Josh explained

“Ooh can I come?” 

“No. This isn’t an errand it’s an emergency.”

“All the more reason to have another magician!” She made a good point. She seemed nice enough anyway. Josh looked around for everyone else’s opinion. No one else seemed to mind. He didn’t seem to want her to join, but he let her anyway.

“Alright…. You can join.” Josh muttered.

“Yes!” She said in success. She went around and greeted everyone telling them her name and stuff like that, and she was nice. Libby hoped that she might stay with them as a friend.

✺ ✺ ✺

Once again, Libby awoke to the blaring earache that happened to be her alarm. Today was the everyone would head out. Josh had found out who the Gici was and where they were. Apparently, the Gici was a girl named Miku and she lived off in a small town named Orichi outside the cities boundaries. Libby had never been past the boundaries, seeing that outside technology was far less advanced. There were no trains or cars. People had to ride horses to get around. How old fashioned. 

Libby and the others met on the 9 am train to the edge of the city. There, Josh and Rose flew them over the wall that surrounded the city, and Caleb used the rest of his allowance he had earned to rent them two horses. After a minute or two of debating, everyone had a horse to ride besides Rose and Josh. Libby and Hakuro were on one horse and Caleb and Amanda were on the other.

“Do you even know how to ride a horse?” Libby questioned Hakuro as they began their trip.

“Of course! You worry too much!” Hakuro assured.

“You have no clue, do you?”

“Not one.”

✺ ✺ ✺

The trip started to get boring after the first half an hour of riding. Everyone was so quiet, and no one even tried to break the silence. Josh and Rose were lucky though. They used flying spells to keep up as they chatted away about spells and nerdy magician stuff. Just as Libby was going through this in her head, Hakuro started to talking to Amanda. And Amanda specifically, making it really awkward for her and Caleb. 

“How you holding up over there?” Hakuro yelled over to Amanda, who was steering her horse.

“Good! How about you?” She responded.

“Fine. Hey, have you ever considered, you know, dating or anything like that?”

“No,” Amanda said honestly, “I tend to focus on my studies and my art more than anything like that.” Libby could see Josh in the corner of her eye start paying more attention. This should be good.

“I see,” Hakuro said, sounding deep in thought. “So… what would you say if someone was to say ask you out?” The uncomfortableness was so high right now.  
One glance at Josh and it made the situation so much better. Rose was holding him back with magic from completely destroying Hakuro.

“I don’t know… why do you care so much about my dating life?” Amanda questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m just a curious guy that wants to know more about you.” You could see the steam coming out of Josh’s ears.

“Hey! Anyone thirsty? I sure am! Let’s stop and get a drink!” Caleb interjected. He must have been as tired of the cringe as she was. Thank the lord he spoke up.

✺ ✺ ✺

They pulled up at the nearest town that had a few houses and a market. While everyone else fixed up the horses and stuff like that, Josh asked Libby if she could pick up some supplies from the market. Not trying to be rude, she agreed. When she entered, the squeak of the door left her with a chill. The place seemed a bit more on the run-down side. Cobwebs covered the place and dust all around the world seemed to gather in this one old market. As she looked around more, Libby found her friend Max, who had written the note behind the counter.

“Max? What are you doing here?” She asked him. When he turned, tears were in his eyes. 

“You shouldn’t have come…” he said repeatedly. Suddenly, Libby heard an explosion outside. Great. Just fantastic.

Outside the market, Libby found her companions fighting what seemed to deamons. That couldn’t be possible though. Daemon’s always came out during the night. How could they be out here now? That’s when he appeared. A magician wearing a black cloak with his hood down floated in the air a few yards behind the battle. He had rough black and hate in his eyes. It seemed as though he was feeding the daemons more dark magic to sustain them in the light of day.

“Josh!” Libby screamed and pointed at the magician. Josh automatically knew what she was thinking. He immediately stop fighting the phantoms and started attacking the dark magician. Josh summoned ice shards and sent them flying at an incredible speed towards his opponent. The dark one deflected them easily. Josh did not stop though. He continued sending shards, but it didn’t matter. The stranger didn’t seem to be having troubles dealing with them. Then, he moved his hand in a circular motion and sent some kind of black magic towards Libby. She tried to dodge it, but it followed her. When it reached her, it splattered like an egg on her chest and seeped into her clothes. All of a sudden, she couldn’t move.

Libby pulled out her sword, although she didn’t want to. She tried to put the sword back, but her body wasn’t responding. Instead she charged Rose, who was already preoccupied with the daemons. Rose glanced over at Libby for a moment in relief.

“Oh thank god you’re back! I could use some he---” Libby pulled her broadsword out of Rose’s midsection. Libby struggled to regain control of herself but it was no use. How could she do this? Something so barbaric. So violent. So cruel. So… dark.

“Enough!” Josh yelled as he blasted the dark magician with a beam of white magic that was almost the size of a building. When the beam vaporized, the magician was nowhere to be seen. All that remained of him was his cloak, which slowly fell to the floor. When this happened, Libby regained control and dropped to the Earth. From where she lie, she could see Amanda knelt next to Rose doing her best to help her. It was no use though. The wound was too large. Libby had killed Rose. Out of cold blood too. She was a murderer. With these fleeting thoughts, Libby blacked out.

 

✺ ✺ ✺

When Libby woke up, she found herself in darkness. She looked all around her and all she saw the dark nothingness. She herself down wherever she was and just took a second to go into deep thought. Maybe this was purgatorio. Libby had researched purgatorio once in school. It was a place someone went before they go to either the overworld or the underworld. The gods must be judging her. Whether or not she is worthy of the overworld. She doubted she was, but you never know. Libby reevaluated her life at that moment and regretted so much. Not appreciating her friends and family more, not taking advantage of the opportunities she had, and not making an impact on the world. 

As Libby evaluated herself, she started hearing a voice. It was so quiet she almost couldn’t hear it. It whispered her name in a gentle voice. Libby turned around to find Rose behind her, smiling and calling her name.

Libby began to well up. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t have control of myself! I didn’t want you to die!” She cried out.

“It’s ok Libby… it’s ok…” and with those final words, Rose faded away into the darkness she came from.

“Rose please don’t leave me!” Libby begged, “Please…” Then, all of a sudden, she heard her name again. This time, the voice came from a door. The door was pure light and could not be seen through it was so bright. Libby approached slowly, hesitant at first, but she became more relaxed as she got closer. The voices were of louder now. They were those of her friends. When she opened the door, she saw her friends being dragged away by men in black hoods. The only person missing was Josh. Hopefully he wasn’t…. She was sure he wasn’t. Josh was much too strong for that too happen. She felt so helpless watching them. That’s when a gentle hand rested itself upon Libby’s shoulder. Libby froze where she stood.

“Libby,” the voice said, “I’ve been looking for someone like you. For centuries I searched to no avail, but now you are here.” The voice was soft and warm, like a mother’s embrace.  
“I bestow this power unto you, my dear.” All of a sudden, Libby felt a warm spot on the bottom of her spine that started to across her back. It spread to her arms and her legs. When these warm spot settled in, they began to glow, creating light in the darkness. Soon, her entire body pulsed with this warm.  
“You are the candle to ignite the forest fire. Now the question is, are you willing to lite the trees ablaze?” What did this voice mean? She was the candle? As these questions formed in her head, a bright light started replacing the darkness until blind light surrounded her.

✺ ✺ ✺

Libby woke up in a small room made of what seemed to be tree branches. It was a cute little room. After looking around for a sec, she realized it wasn’t a room, it was a tree house. They were papers thrown all over the floor. None of them were legible. Though a mess, it was a nice place. Suddenly, Libby heard footsteps, whoever lived here must have come back. In a hurry, Libby bolted back to the bed and did her best to try to look asleep. The person who lived in the house was about the same height as Libby was, his hair was in shambles, and he wore ragged clothing. When she got a closer look at his face, she realized it was Josh. 

“Josh?!” Libby blurted at she quickly sat up. Josh jumped a bit in reaction to her sudden shout.

“Libby? You are alive? How?” Josh looked more confused than happy to see her.

“I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

“I am it’s just… well… when you fell, I checked your pulse and I didn’t feel anything. Libby… you were dead.” Dead? That’s absurd. If she was dead how could she be talking to her right now.

“Yeah, ok whatever. What day is it? I saw our friends in trouble! We need to go save them.”

“You think I haven’t tried?!” Josh yelled out all of a sudden. “Sorry it’s just… you’ve been out for two weeks. I’ve tried rescuing them on my own, but every time I do I barely make it out alive. I’m starting to lose hope.” Woah… two weeks. Things were on the bleaker side. Libby suddenly noticed the scars that littered his arms and legs. How badly was he beaten?

“Maybe now that you're here things will be different,” Josh continued, “Yeah… maybe there is some small amount of hope we can grasp onto. We just have to believe.” He said sounding more chipper, but that chipper mood quickly turned back to one of somber and pity. He silently walked over to what seemed to be a makeshift fire and cooked some kind of unknown meat. 

“You hungry? Here, have this.” He handed her a piece of whatever it was. It didn’t look half bad, and it tasted ten times better than it looked. 

“What is this?” Libby asked.

“Just some human meat I got from the people I killed.” Libby immediately spit out the meat in disgust. 

“Hah just kidding,” Josh said mid-chuckle. “It’s just beef. I use magic with the fire to make it taste good. But eh…” He trailed off. Libby wanted to say something to him, but she had no clue what to say. Should she comfort him? Should she tell him they would do it together no matter what? She had no clue. Instead of saying any of these she asked him a question.

“Where…. Do you know where my sword is?” She asked. 

“It’s down at the base of the tree.” Josh said as he organized all the papers that were spread across the floor. Libby got up and climbed down the ladder Josh had made with large branches. There, just as he had said, lay her broadsword. It was still coated with Rose’s blood. Libby sat down on the tree and took in her surroundings. This was the only tree in sight. All around her was just grassland with the occasional bush. It was calming watching the wind move the grass as if they were waves on the ocean. It was so tranquil here. She wished she could stay here forever, and that she could cast aside all of the worries and burdens she carried around with her every day. She wished she could just forget everything and live here. But she couldn’t. She had friends to save, and nothing could stop her from achieving this goal.

Libby took her sword and washed it down at a stream, removing all the blood. There was no point in feeling guilty over what happened. It was over, and there was nothing she could do about what happened. She just had to look to the future and fight in honor of Rose. Libby held her sword up the shining sun and swore to herself that she would defeat all the darkness that cursed this world. No matter what it costed.

 

✺ ✺ ✺  
“Get up, we are going.” Libby told Josh and she entered the treehome. She found him moping around by the desk writing up something. It didn’t matter.

“What?” He said in a tired voice. 

“We are going to save Amanda and Libby, now get off your ass and get ready.” Libby said in a stern voice. Josh could tell that she was very serious so he got up and grabbed all the things he needed. 

“Ok I have everything… you ready?”

“Been ready.” And with that, they started off. They had no horses so they had to go by foot. Running through the grass made Libby slightly itchy but she would live.

“So… do you know where they are exactly.” Libby asked Josh.

“Of course I do, I put specific badges on them that let’s me use magic to track them.”

“How convenient.”

“I thought it might come in handy some day, which they are.” Josh shot a ball of light into the air which flattened out into a screen showing Amanda and Caleb. They were in chains along with several other people following some sort of cart. What is this? Was it some slave owner that was going to his next auction? Whatever it was, Caleb and Amanda didn’t belong there. 

After an hour of running, they finally caught up with the caravan of slaves or whatever they were.

“Wait, couldn’t you have just flown us hear?” Libby asked.

“Whoops?” Josh said trying to look innocent. Libby smacked him on the back of the head. What a moron. She reminded herself that she had to stay focused here. Her friends needed rescuing.

 

“Just follow my lead,” She said leaving Josh totally clueless on what was going on. Libby walked to an open space. This was her first time doing this, but she was confident in what Miku had told her. She grasped sword with both hands, and raised it in the air.

“Miku, Gici of Light, lend me your strength!” When she yelled this a whirlwind of fire and water surrounded her. Libby could feel the power surging within her. Then, her hand started to glow with a foreign symbol. This symbol showed she was chosen. Chosen by a Gici of course, to fight of the darkness and protect humanity from it. Finally, the fire died down and the water evaporated, leaving just Libby and her sword. She was finally ready to defeat anyone who stood in her path.

She heard shouting coming from where her friends were. Of course a giant pillar of fire would have alarmed her. Way to plan ahead, Libby told herself as she readied herself. This is where she would finally strike back at the evil in this world. As the men in cloaks started to become suspicious,she leaped out from the trees surrounding them. Her sword erupted in fire as she cut down the men of darkness one by one. It didn’t take long for most of the other men to start retreating. Cowards.

Josh broke all the hostages’ cuffs and let them free, to go where they like and live the life they want to live. While Josh was doing this, Libby started going through all the paper and items the cloaked men left behind. Maybe it would give them a clue where they were going. Or maybe it would just be a bunch of symbols that weren't legible. Great. All of a sudden, Libby heard a noise, it was coming from where the men retreated. Had they come back? She glanced down the dirt road to find men with black armor marching towards their position. Who were they? Behind these armored men were the men in cloaks. One of the men in cloaks raised his hand up as he walked and from his hand a black mist shot out. It bolted it’s way over to where Josh and the rest of her friends were standing chatting. Libby tried to cry out to them to run, but it she was too late. The mist made it’s way to Josh and completely shrouded him in seconds. Amanda screamed and reached out her hand for him, but Caleb held her back. After a brief moment of the mist swirling around him, it vaporized into thin air and left a stone statue of Josh. No… He… That wasn’t… As a wind blew by, the sculpture turned to dust and carried with it. What just happened…

Everyone was too shocked to move, Josh had just turned to dust. Amanda held his ashes, tearing up. Caleb was still, his eye’s locked on where Josh was standing. The marching became louder and louder as the three of them just stood in place. Libby took a deep breathe, ignited her sword, and then sent a pillar of fire towards the dark forces. She would not let them get away this time. As the pillar of fire continued, Amanda rushed faster than the eye could see and picked off all the retreating enemies. When Libby glanced over to watch her, she could barely keep track of Amanda. I guess rage can really motivate someone. When Libby put out the flames on her sword and ended the pillar of fire, all that remained was the ashes of the fallen.

Amanda picked up the remaining dust of Josh that remained on the ground. A tear ran down her eye as she just knelt and stared at it. This was all her fault. Two people have died all because she needed help from some stupid Gici. Come to think of it, Libby wasn’t the only person who needed to see the Gici. Where was Hakuro? Libby asked Caleb and Amanda if they knew where he was but they had no clue. Last time he saw him was when she had… killed Rose. 

✺ ✺ ✺

Libby sat alone under a tree, watching the sun go down. She wished she could go back to Oshima city, where everything was normal and peaceful and less stressful. She wish she never would have ran into that stupid phantom. Why did fate curse her to live this life? Why couldn’t she just live happily with her friends? Was that too much to ask? As the sun shined it’s last rays, Libby got up. It was time for some answers. 

“Caleb, let’s go.” Libby demanded in a stern voice.

“What? Um, ok?” he responded. “What about Amanda?”

“In this state, it’s better to just leave her here. Even if we tried bringing her along, she would just lag behind and sob. We don’t have time for that.”

“Yeah… I guess that’s true.”

“Now, let’s go.” Then, the two of them walked off down the dirt road in whatever direction the cloaked men came from. Both of them did the best they could to step over the ashes of what had been dark soldiers, but it was everywhere. Once they finally got past it, the road was clear. When they looked down the road, they saw nothing. It seemed like the road kept going forever, but Libby and Caleb knew it didn’t. They had to just keep going.

Eventually, it became difficult for Libby to see. She would use the flames from her sword, but she didn’t exactly remember how to activate it. When she summoned the fire before, she was so in the moment that it just came naturally. Now that she needed it for a practical reason, it was no use. Caleb didn’t have any type of torches, so they were just going to have to walk blind. After a few minutes of walking in these conditions, Libby began to start seeing this off to the side of the road. Movement of some sort. She couldn’t make out what it was, hell maybe she was just hallucinating. Libby so tired that it definitely could be possible. Then, whatever was moving around them sprung at them and grabbed Caleb. Once it had Caleb firmly in its clutches, it dashed off into the woods.

“Caleb!” Libby screamed and chased after the creature that had stolen Caleb. Whatever that things was, it was quick and maneuvered fast. Libby could barely keep up with it. Now would be a great time to use her powers, if she could. Libby swerved around trees and ducked under branches trying to stay with this beast. Libby noticed the monster start to slow down as it fumbled around with Caleb. This was her chance, but before she could react the creature bit through Caleb’s neck. His decapitated head fell to the ground in what seemed to be slow motion. Then, the monster ran off with what remained of his body.

His head rolled to Libby’s feet. It held an emotionless face that was painted in blood. She couldn’t bare to look at it. It was too much. Why? Why must everyone in contact with her die? Was this some kind of curse? Horrible luck? Whatever it was, it followed her wherever she went. Libby then proceeded to bury what she could of Caleb. She refused to let him sit out here and eventually be eaten by some animal. He deserved a proper burial.

Walking on the path alone wasn’t the same as walking with someone else. It felt more eerie. And thanks to whatever gnabbed Caleb, Libby was on the lookout for any sudden motion in her vicinity, flinching every time her eyes created the illusion of a monster. Libby was so exhausted. She stopped for a second to take in her surroundings when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She immediately turned around and pulled out her broadsword, preparing herself the best she could. When she her eyes adjusted to her target, she realized it was Max.

“Come on,” He said in a whisper, “Before the creature eats you too.” So, Libby followed Max to wherever he was going. Hopefully somewhere with a bed. She could really use some sleep. Max had taken them to what seemed to be a some type of campsite. There were tons of worn tents spread out across the camp and people milled all around. That’s when she noticed the men in black cloaks. She wanted to attack them at that moment, but Max advised her not to. When they arrived, Libby found a small tent towards the back of the rest of the camp. There were no fires or anything like that around it. Just the tent.

“Alright, you can crash here with me for now, but in the morning you have to leave. If everyone finds you trying to sneak out in the morning, they’ll kill you.” She nodded in agreement and thanked him for letting her stay here.

“Why are you with these guys anyway?” Libby asked Max?

“It’s…. It’s not your business…” He responded reluctantly. Libby ignored his avoiding at first, but later in the night she became suspicious.

 

✺ ✺ ✺

Libby had slept way more than she should have. At this point, there was no way she going to be able to sneak out. She was going to have to fight her way out. Libby exited the tent, sword ready, to see that everyone was gone. She started roaming the camp to make sure there wasn’t anyone. After some checking, she found Amanda sitting at the main firepit of the campsite. That’s when Libby saw all the dead bodies. They were scattered all around Amanda, who was still sitting quietly by the firepit.

“I didn’t mean to kill them,” Amanda said in a soft voice, “but I was so mad. Enraged. Infuriated. I couldn’t hold back. They killed Josh!” Her whispering began to grow more and more into shouting. 

“Josh was my everything, and I didn’t tell him… I didn’t even get to say goodbye. He was just… gone. Gone forever.” She started to calm down a bit. Libby sat down and comforted her the best she could. She honestly did not know what to do. No one ever told her what to say or what to do to help someone get over a death. 

Suddenly, Libby heard the crunch of branches breaking. She looked up and saw Hakuro standing a little ways away staring at them. When Libby looked closer, she noticed he was wearing a black robe and half of his face was just just completely black. No eye, no other half of nose, no other half of mouth. Just this flat black surface. 

“Hakuro,” Libby yelled to him, “have you been?!” He didn’t say anything in response. He just smirked and pulled out his sword. What was he doing? She started to approach him, but stopped out of reluctance. 

“Put your sword away. We are all friends here right?” Again no response. Then out of nowhere, Hakuro charges Libby with flying swings and stabs of his sword.  
Libby pulled out her broadsword at lightning speed and was able to block his attacks. While Hakuro was launching all these attacks at her, he looked her straight in the eyes with his one eye. It felt he was prying into her soul and trying to rip it apart, yet she had to maintain eye contact and show she was not afraid. It was hard keep track of all his attacks, and Libby was getting tired. She didn’t know how long she could last. Swing after swing, Hakuro kept hitting hard with no relent, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When this moment came, he knocked Libby to the grounded with a kick. He loomed over where she lay with his sword up ready to end her? Was this it? This is how she was going to die?

Right before Hakuro struck her down, Libby’s sword lit on fire. Great timing. She was able to burn and slice his arm as she got up, sending him stumbling backwards. It was time for her to attack. Libby lit the ground around her on fire, which spread making a ring around Hakuro and Libby. She heavily attacked his sword, making it difficult for Hakuro to even withstand the beating. Then, Libby’s sword cut right through Hakuro’s. It was time to end it. She sliced his arms off and kicked him over. From his wounds, the black goo leaked out. What had he become? It didn’t matter, he wasn’t Hakuro anymore. And with that, Libby set Hakuro ablaze and left him to burn in the ring of fire.

When Libby returned back to Amanda, Amanda looked shocked. She couldn’t blame her. That was pretty brutal. But with the day she had yesterday, she needed a way to get her anger out. As Libby got Amanda and left the camp, they could still hear his screams of pain.

✺ ✺ ✺

Libby and Amanda were completely lost. They had strayed so far from the road that they didn’t know how to get back to it. Both of their stomachs had made it audible that they were hungry as well. As night grew closer, the crisp air around them started to become colder. What a crap situation they were in. They had nowhere to go. Fantastic. Eventually, Amanda fell to the ground and Libby followed right after. They were exhausted. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day than the last too.

Libby woke in the middle of the night to what sounded like branches snapping under feet. She got in up quickly and checked her surrounding. Above Amanda stood two people that seemed to be about her age.

“Sorry… we thought you were dead so we… uh…” One of them said. As Libby’s eye adjusted to the dark, she realized one was a boy and one was a girl.  
“Who are you? What were you doing?” Libby asked in a tired voice.

“Well,” the boy started, “are parents died a while ago, and who come to this forest don’t normally come out alive so, we steal what we can from the dead bodies to stay alive.” What a horrible way to live. Wait… did he say people don’t normally come out alive.

“Hold on a sec, did you say people don’t leave alive?”

“Duh,” the girl said, “they don’t call these woods “Hell’s Gate” for nothing.” So that’s where they were. Libby had learned a little bit about the lands outside the city. So was told that Hell’s Gate was a place that was equivalent to being in hell itself. There was such a heavy concentration of evil there that no one but the Order of Axi could get in and out. No one ever explained who the Order of Axi were, but she had a pretty good idea now.

“I’m Arkin by the way!” The boy said with a wide grin. She shook his hand.

“And I’m Mara.” The other said. Mara and Arkin. Got it.

“I’m Libby, and this is my friend Amanda. There were more of us, but they… they didn’t make it.”

“We know the feeling. We used to be a much bigger group than we are today. The Axi took that away from us.” Libby almost threw her sword by how mad she was. She had cut down their group too? Unreal. I mean they were just a bunch of innocent kids. What was the point? As Amanda and the other continued to talk, Libby heard rustling in the trees around them. She knew what was going on.

“Everyone get down!” As she screamed, the screeching of the the shadow creatures surrounded them. They launched themselves out of the trees and flew at the group. Instead of cowering in fear, the four teens leaped at the monster to strike first. It was an all out brawl.

Libby was able to slash the monster in front of her first, but noticed Amanda didn’t have such luck. Libby knew that she couldn’t do anything for her right now though. With the shadow beast finally down she could finally get a good look at it. It’s limbs look disfigured and rusty, and they bent in the wrong directions. It’s eyes were as dark as it’s skin. When it started to croak and get back up, Libby thrusted her sword through it’s head, and the monster fell back to the grounded motionless. What a disgusting creature.

Once everyone else had finished off the rest, they all sat down exhausted. The two groups agreed to watch each other's back and sleeps in shifts. Libby and Amanda took the first shift. 

“Hey Libby…”

“What's up?”

“When I was about to attack that camp of those bad people, I heard them talking about a mercenary. Someone who was could take care of an entire army and deal with any assassin that threatened her. She sounds really powerful… do you think someone like that really exists?” Amanda stared at the ground as she asked Libby this. 

“Well maybe, guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Libby?”

“Hm?”

“I miss home…”

“So do I…” This dumb journey was all due to her fighting some creature back in the city. Libby was sure her parents were worried about her being away for such a long time. What was she even thinking. Libby was an average teen that just happened to run into that… thing. She was no expedition her. What was she doing out here?

 

✺ ✺ ✺

Night passed, and when the sun returned Arkin and Mara woke the others.


End file.
